Mr Waterman took his opportunity to bat for Britain at an event for supporters of the project held ahead of today’s announcement of details of the route north of Birmingham, telling the minister: ‘We are going to spend a lot of public money on what is probably the biggest investment in the railways since the Victorian era.

The confrontation came at an event hosted by German train-maker Siemens, one of those likely to bid to build the 225mph trains for the project – which is currently subject to a series of High Court challenges from resident groups and others.

Mr McLoughlin said it was too early to talk about who would build the trains or the tendering process for the contract.

But he took on board Mr Waterman’s views noting :‘We want competition so we get the best price,’ he said.

Later Mr McLoughlin said: ‘There’s no reason why the rolling stock can’t be built in the UK. We’ve got some train-makers and Hitachi are opening a brand new plant in Newton Ayclioffe, County Durham, which will employ 700 once it gets started.’

It follows an earlier row when Derby-based train making firm Bombardier lost out in 2011 to Siemens on a £1.4bn deal to build trains for the Thameslink project.

The Department for Transport was criticised after selecting the German firm as its preferred bidder to build 1,200 Thameslink carriages. The Government said the Siemens deal offered better value for taxpayers.

Bombardier had laid off about 1,000 contractors and 200 permanent staff by early 2012, but said there was enough work to guarantee the factory’s ‘short-term’ future.

Coventry-born Mr Waterman became famous in the 1980s as one of the Stock Aitken Waterman trio churning out chart-topping records for artists including Kylie Minogue. But he has also run a number of rail businesses.

The Government says the 351-mile high speed link from London to Birmingham, and then in a ‘Y-shape’ to Manchester and Leeds, will create up to 100,000 direct jobs, rising to 250,000 because of the ‘knock-on’ effect.

Work is expected to start in four years, with the first stage completed in 2026 and the second stage six years later in 2032.